Pretty much every sample application that illustrates ASP.NET MVC uses Linq To SQL or the Entity Framework as the data access method. I've seen a number of questions posted to the forums at www.asp.net asking if there are any alternatives, and indeed there are. This article will look at using plain ADO.NET within a data access layer to provide dynamic content to a typical small CRUD application.

The most recent addition to my Cheat Sheets features details of all the Exceptions that can be found in the most commonly used assemblies within ASP.NET development. Compiling this information was an interesting challenge. I could have simply copy-pasted from MSDN, but that would have been extremely tedious. Instead, I ended up with a blend of Linq to XML, Reflection, a dash of Regex and the Global Assembly Cache Tool - gacutil.exe. Here's the full story.

Here's a list of Exceptions that can be found in the assemblies which are most commonly used in ASP.NET development. Ideally, you should be as specific as possible when catching or throwing Exceptions. The more specific you are, the less work the CLR has to do in locating the appropriate catch block, and the more informative your error messages are, which should help speed up identifying the source of any problems.